I need BritRail users’ expert advice, please!

We will be first-time train travelers when in England the end of July. While staying in London for 2 weeks, we will be taking 4-5 day trips via trains. Because we want some flexibility on dates and plan to travel early in the day, I plan to purchase one of the BritRailEngland passes. I was planning on getting the 8 consecutive day pass, but now it seems that if I purchase tickets for a trip to Oxford ahead of time (this is the only trip I know for sure what day of the week we will want to travel on), then buying the 4-day flex pass and purchasing ahead the Oxford tickets will save a little bit of money.

Here’s my question—if I pre-purchase train tickets, what happens if I “miss” that train time, if there are later trains available? Will I have to purchase walk-up tickets (which I’ve heard are very expensive) or would I pay some incremental cost over what I’ve already paid? One big draw of the passes is the flexibility of not only dates but also times they seem to provide, but if it wouldn’t be too “dangerous” to purchase the Oxford tickets ahead of time, then I might.

Thanks!--Alecia

I don't know what you mean by "very expensive"

To take your Oxford example: a return fare bought three months in advance via firstminutefares.com can go as low as £8-£9. A walk-up return fare using a Network Card (£20, but well worth it if you're plannning 4-5 day trips) is £12.20.

As for this "what if I miss the train?" If you're prebooked with the cheapest possible fare on the 0951 and don't get it, then of course you have to buy a new ticket.

But why on earth would you miss it? I mean, granted you might get hit by a lightning bolt on the way to the station or get run over by a dinosaur. But aren't there more likely eventualities you might plan your day round?

On SOME daytrip lines, there are now slightly cheaper fares available booking in advance than walk-up. But as a general rule, the difference on routes below 100 miles each way is pretty trivial unless you really are destitute and a pound or two really, really matters.

However, there are a lot of different fares and a lot of different passes (and only UK-based websites quote real point to point fares. BritRail is operated by a division of the French government. Its "compare fares" feature is a load of dirty French lies churned out to deceive you into buying one of its passes) You need to price each journey individually on nationalrail.co.uk to see what the options really are.

Thanks, TheFlannerpooch--
I have once again compared prices (and I had already been using the nationalrail site to plug in "dummy" itineraries) and my research seems to indicate that a 4 day flex pass (BritRailEngland) will cost less, by somewhere between 15 and 40 pounds for each of us, than purchasing point to point tickets for 4 trips. For some of the trips, there are no saver fares at the times we want to travel (like early in the day).
(And our desire to travel before 10 am precludes the use of a Network Card.)

So I appreciate the nudge to do my own homework once again (I like doing my own research, but I also so appreciate Fodorites' opinions when they've been and done stuff I'm only experiencing on-line for now, like booking/planning train trips). I think I'm back to choosing the BritRailEngland flexpass. Mostly, even more than saving any money, I like not being locked into certain travel times, even the day before or day of a trip. Somehow, although I don't expect dinosaurs or lightning--ha!--I do like , with the Flex Pass, not being locked into a return time especially--(e.g.,what if we want to spend 3 or 4 hours on the White Cliffs instead of 2 and we can't because we have a train ticket with a time on it?)

(What do you mean that "it" is run by a division of the French government?)

Anybody else had good or bad experience with BritRail pases--I haven't actually purchased ours yet?

I love the flexibility of a rail pass. I've used them for several visits to the UK. During one of our visits we had planned on going to Bath on Monday and York on Thursday. Well on Monday it was pouring with rain in that part of England, but the north east was dry and sunny. We went to York instead and visited Bath a few days later, when the weather there was perfect.

As for missing a train, we had planned on taking the 8am service from London to York. We were delayed on the tube so by the time we got to the station, we had just missed the train. Since we had a railpass, we simply boarded the next one without having to worry about buying new tickets at an exorbitant peak fare.

It seems that most posters here favor buying advance purchase point to point train tickets, but I'd rather pay the perceived higher cost of a flexipass than be confined to specific trains and travel dates. Hope this helps texasbookworm and have a great time exploring England.

&quot;<i>(What do you mean that &quot;it&quot; is run by a division of the French government?)</i>&quot;

BritRail is not a railroad company, nor even British. It is an arm of RailEurope that markets generally over-priced rail passes in the UK. For some folks, Britrail does pencil out. If you have worked it out you <i>might</i> be one of those it benefits. Usually though, it is only works for those who are traveling long distance several times.

There is no issue about bad experiences with BritRail Passes. They work just the way they are supposed to work. The only question is whether they are good value, and that's an individual decision based upon itinerary and perceived value of flexibility.

ACP Marketing of Montreal is the real company behind the BritRail name, and they have had the exclusive franchise from the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC)to develop and market the passes since 2000. I am sceptical that ACP Marketing is a division of the French government.

In any case it's better to buy your tickets through one of the companies that operate trains in the UK and collect the tickets at one of the major train stations using the Fastticket option expect, as the TheFlannerpooch, points out on the commuter routes around London when buying as you need them isn't much more expensive

For most overseas folk the best option is www.nationalexpresseastcoast.com as they allow you to both register and buy with a foreign address

TheFlannerpooch?

Has our friend been regenerated into his dog?
Our course, the dog might have evolved like Cat in Red Dwarf